Pendulum

1969
R
1h 46m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

When police captain Frank Matthews is accused of murdering his adulterous wife and her lover he avoids arrest and sets out to find the killer.When police captain Frank Matthews is accused of murdering his adulterous wife and her lover he avoids arrest and sets out to find the killer.When police captain Frank Matthews is accused of murdering his adulterous wife and her lover he avoids arrest and sets out to find the killer.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

821

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination

Photos33

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
During location filming in Washington, DC, Martin Luther King was assassinated. The resulting riots in the capital caused the shooting company to wrap early and return to Los Angeles. Visible in the rear window of the cab during Jean Seberg's ride through the city, buildings are burning and smoke is obvious.

Goofs
In the opening sequence, under the main titles, the taxicab starts out as a 1964 Plymouth. Upon arrival at its destination, the car has changed to a 1968 Plymouth.

Quotes
Judge Kinsella: On your last appearance before me, Mr. Sanderson, it was my unpleasant duty to sentence you to death in the electric chair. Now, the duty I have before me now is in some respects even more unpleasant. I have no quarrel with the principle of law involved, it's a good and wise application of our constitutional guarantees, but in this case, it results in turning loose upon society a degraded and immoral person.
Judge Kinsella: [he continues] There's no doubt that in the first half of the twentieth century, we - and I mean the press and the public as well as the courts - had looked the other way as our police, in the name of law and order, showed a patent disregard for individual liberties as guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. But it seems now that the pendulum is swinging a little too far the other way.
[sighs heavily]
Judge Kinsella: Well there is hope; gravity will bring it to rest at some point where the interests of both individual liberty and the community as a whole are best served. Motion is granted.

Connections
Referenced in Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the '70s (2012)

Soundtracks
The Pendulum Swings Both Ways
Music by Walter Scharf
Lyrics by Mack David
Sung by The Lettermen (as The Letterman)

User reviews21

Review

Featured review

6/10

Read 'em their rights

The film Pendulum came out when use of the Miranda decision was fairly new and police departments all over the nation were still grumbling about it as convictions were being overturned. Such a conviction overturned was that of rapist Robert F. Lyons and that really bothers the arresting officer George Peppard.

Still Peppard is ready for a career change. He's been appointed to the staff of the crime committee of US Senator Paul McGrath. By the way McGrath is one smooth politician and definitely not one to be in a foxhole with.

Peppard is going to need all the friends he can get because he is accused of murdering his wife Jean Seberg and her boyfriend Harry Lewis while catching them in the act. I've always found it amazing that some of the biggest law and order types when they get in a jackpot always want to make sure those rights are available.

Still of all the lawyers he could have picked Peppard chooses civil libertarian Richard Kiley, the same man who got Lyons's conviction reversed. That has all his cop buddies raising their eyebrows like Charles McGraw, Frank Marth, and Dana Elcar.

Pendulum concentrates on its ironical message to the extent that it really forgets to put in a good mystery. No doubt who is the doer of this deed from the gitgo.

A lot of familiar faces are in Pendulum, but possibly the best performance in the film is from Madeline Sherwood. As Lyons's much put upon mother she has an aura of quiet desperation in her role and her scenes with Lyons and Peppard really count.

Nice picture with a message that is still relevant today.